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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24266593">Final Countdown</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knightly/pseuds/Knightly'>Knightly</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Confessions, Dubious Science, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Outer Space, potential character inaccuracy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:27:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,403</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24266593</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knightly/pseuds/Knightly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was with an ominous 30 minutes until system failure ringing loud and clear that he and Clint began desperately attempting to get their communicators to connect with headquarters, if only for a moment. </p>
<p>20 minutes and Clint threw his communicator against the furthest wall when all they managed to produce was more crackling static to add to the cacophony of explosions they could hear in the furthest parts of the station</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve Rogers/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Final Countdown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this a few years ago and just got around to finishing it now what with all the extra free time I have now.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It's not meant to be more than a two weeklong voyage to investigate a mysterious ping they’d received from an orbiting shield station. It was supposed to be a chance to see what was beyond the confines of Earth’s atmosphere. What it was not supposed to be, what nobody had the foresight to see it was, was a trap.</p>
<p>He and Clint made it through five, in hindsight, suspiciously quiet days monitoring the vastness of space all around them from the comfort of their Shield issued bunks, eating their Shield issued rations, before things turned upside down.</p>
<p>The attack was swift, faster than they could have anticipated, faster than they could counter. Steve managed a feeble 2-second-long mayday before communication shut down and he had more pressing matters at hand, like fighting off the tall blue aliens currently shooting at them.  </p>
<p>Sirens blared, a warning for emergency evacuation, as they raced the halls disarming and knocking out every hostile in sight. By the time they had a moment to breath, barricaded in the stations core, Steve knew they were in a tight spot.</p>
<p>It was with an ominous <em>30 minutes until system failure </em>ringing loud and clear that he and Clint began desperately attempting to get their communicators to connect with headquarters, if only for a moment.</p>
<p><em>20 minutes</em> and Clint threw his communicator against the furthest wall when all they managed to produce was more crackling static to add to the cacophony of explosions they could hear in the furthest parts of the station.</p>
<p><em>18 minutes</em> and they both went silent.</p>
<p><em>15 minutes</em> and Steve couldn’t stop the frustrated tears burning his eyes. He swiped at them roughly, his eyes focusing on the ceiling above him in an attempt to ebb the flow. He only glanced down when he heard Clint, sitting with his knees held loose against his chest, suck in a rough breath and sniffle in a way that was not at all subtle.</p>
<p>Steve covered his eyes with the palm of his hand as he spoke, “I’m sorry, Clint.”</p>
<p>The other man’s voice was wet, harsh, “For what?”</p>
<p>“Just—because. I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, me too then.”</p>
<p>Steve nodded, dropped his hand away from his eyes, no longer caring that the flow of silent tears hadn’t stopped, one or two still finding their way out despite his will to appear stronger.</p>
<p>He startled when Clint spoke again, <em>12 minutes</em> left, “I’ve done a lot of stupid shit in my life but being a part of the Avengers—I thought I was finally doing something worth a damn. It’s, well, it’s good. I sure as hell wasn’t done though. I need—fuck” He stopped talking, rolled his eyes skyward, “A few more years, I think. That should have covered it all.”</p>
<p>Steve felt heat all around them, the explosions were getting closer, “Sometimes I don’t want to be an Avenger. Sometimes I don’t want to be Captain America.  It’s – who I am, I guess. But there’s also Steve Rogers, and, it’s hard living in your own shadow.” Steve dropped his head back to the wall, “I wouldn’t stop though, doing this, doing good. I could never forgive myself sitting back with the ability to do something when innocent lives are in danger.”</p>
<p>Clint hm’d in agreement. <em>10 minutes</em> left. “You know, it was me who broke the coffee table, not Hulk. And I’m the one who started that fire in the bathroom, I don’t know how it happened, but Natasha’s hair dryer was never the same. Spider-Mans suit being pink that one time, also me, and I’ve had a dog in my quarters for the past two weeks now. A lab pup I found when that squid thing attacked downtown, he constantly smells like Pizza and I’m not sure why, because I haven’t fed him any and I’ve bathed him twice.”</p>
<p>Steve laughed, short but real, “We know about the dog. Thor feeds him slices when he wonders out of your room, he really likes pineapple.”</p>
<p>“Right. That’s good then. Someone will take care of him—” When I’m gone, went unspoken.</p>
<p>Steve heard it anyways, decided he might as well get a few things off his chest too while they were at it, “I accidentally smashed Thor’s cell phone, then slipped it into his pocket before he sat down so that he thought he just sat on it wrong. I’ve almost told him a million times but Tony said the next phone I broke, I’d have to sit through the entire process of him fixing it and then learn how to do it myself. Cars I like, phones, not so much. I’m also the one who recorded all of those sex in the city episodes, not Jan, and I’m the one who ate the last of Bruce’s muffins, I didn’t think it would make his so—angry.”</p>
<p><em>8 minutes</em> and Clint was laughing, clutching a hand to his side that was still trickling blood. “Shit, Cap, really?”</p>
<p>Steve smiled, the taste of copper prominent on his tongue, “yeah.”</p>
<p>They sobered up around <em>7 minutes</em>. “We—probably won’t make it out of this.”</p>
<p>Steve shook his head, eyes downcast as he admitted, “I don’t think so.”</p>
<p>“Right. Just in case then,” He wiped his eyes quick, “I—I never forgave my dad. I don’t know how. He was an ass, especially when he drank, and it cost us everything. It cost his life, and it cost my mom’s life and what fucking sucked was that I missed them. I missed both of them so much being in that stupid fucking orphanage. I used to think having him back would almost be worth it if we could just get out of there.” Clint let his head hang, “I had Barney though, and I miss him too. I shouldn’t have let him go.”</p>
<p>Steve sat quietly, tongue tied until Clint spoke again,<em> 6 minutes</em> left, “Your turn, Steve.”</p>
<p>Steve took a deep breath, “When it’s bad, I find myself wishing I’d stayed in the ice. It didn’t make sense, me living when everyone else, great men and woman, were just gone. Peggy, The Commandoes, Bucky, for awhile there. Hell, sometimes he gets this faraway look and it’s like he’s still falling back in the 40’s, still waiting to have his memories wiped again. How can I help him when I could barely help myself? I get angry, irrationally angry at him for getting that look, at myself for being useless, at him for not just staying dead. He’d have been safe dead, instead of just—being in pain all the time. He thinks I can’t see it, but I do and I miss him, the person that he used to be. I miss them all, but I’m glad they lived full lives, and died in peace, never feeling so displaced. It’s how Bucky should have gone, and it’s how I should have gone.” </p>
<p><em>5 minutes</em>, “I’ve been in love just twice in my life. There was Natasha, for awhile, and I love her still. Maybe not in the same way, but I love her. And then there was Bobbi, and we could have been happy together, lived a nice, simple life, as simple as being badass SHIELD agents together can be. But I wanted something bigger, I wanted to be a hero and the price was that life. We’d have been so fucking happy though, I know it.”</p>
<p>“Peggy, I loved her with everything I had but we never got further than a few stolen kisses and broken promises. I, there could have been Sharon, but, it’s weird, I think. She came in too soon after Peggy and I couldn’t see past that.” <em>4 minutes</em> and Steve was cracking at the seams, <em>4 minutes</em> and Steve didn’t want to think about how close he’d been lately to being in love all over again, how when he thinks of love now, he see’s warm brown eyes, motor oil, and a private smile illuminated by the soft blue glow of holograms. He breathed in a shuddering breath, “I never really wanted a simple life, I didn’t think about it. I wanted to love and be loved and I’d go along with wherever that took me, whether that be a house on a grove with 3 children and a dog, or a studio walk up with a cat.”</p>
<p>Clint’s tears flowed freely, even as he smirked, “I wouldn’t have pictured that, you just seem—so wholesome.”</p>
<p>Steve sniffed, snot and blood and tears that tasted like salt water, “It’s the red, white and blue. It creates the illusion of apple pie and unquestioning patriotism.”</p>
<p><em>3 minutes</em>. Clint wiped his nose with his sleeve, leaving a trail of blood along his cheek, “Natasha is going to kill me. Then she’s going to tell Bobbi and she’ll kill me too. I’ll be dead three times over by next week.”</p>
<p>“Bucky, he’s gonna be pissed. He’s going to lecture my gravestone.” Steve startled himself with a sob, loud and unbidden, “Sam will have to keep him grounded. And Natasha, they’ve been getting along lately.” Another sob and he couldn’t speak, couldn’t get enough air in to form words. He didn’t want to mention Tony, he didn’t want to but he had to. He forced himself to breath, if only for a second, “Tony will—“ and he lost the thread again, lost his breath again, because Tony would fall apart and Steve wouldn’t be there to pick him back up.</p>
<p><em>2 minutes</em> and Clint placed his hand on Steve’s shoulder as he cried, the weight of it heavy and not at all soothing, but Steve let him, leaned into the contact. His voice tore out of him, wet and ragged and <em>angry</em>. Angry at Tony, angry at the situation, angry at himself mostly, “I wish he didn’t care. He cares too much, with everything he’s got and it only makes the loss hit him all the more. He’ll lock himself away and he can’t <em>do</em> that. He’s the heart of this team. Without him it will all just crumble apart and that can’t happen, Clint. People need the Avengers.” He sucked in another breath— too fast, “People need Iron Man, they need Tony. <em>I need Tony</em>.” And it was true, he wanted Tony there, the feeling strong and shrouded in guilt because he shouldn’t. He didn’t. He’s glad Tony is safe, wherever he is, he just wished, at least for a moment, that he could see Tony one more time before—</p>
<p><em>1 minute left</em>. The lights flashed red in warning all around them and Clint’s hand dug in painfully. “He’ll be fine, Steve. He’s strong. Stronger than people give him credit for.”</p>
<p>Steve squeezed his eyes shut, “I know. I just wish I’d told him – I wish I’d said something, but, I was sure there was time left. He was okay waiting for me, I know he was, he didn’t say it, but I know. And now I waited too long and everything is fucked up and I never <em>told</em> him.”</p>
<p><em>10 seconds</em>.<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<p>“ He knows, Steve. I’m sure of it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>7 seconds</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He deserved to hear it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>5 seconds</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Here we go.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>3 seconds.<br/>
<br/>
</em>
</p>
<p> “Thank you, Clint.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>1 second</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Steve, I’m sca—“</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The world exploded in a brilliant burst of white light before it all went black.</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p>Of course, they were saved. Steve woke up in a hospital bed a few hours later, hooked up to machines and staring at an unfortunately familiar, bland white ceiling.   </p>
<p>They were transported out, helped by Tony, Reed and Bruce, all working against the clock to save them when the alarms sounded that Clint and Steve were in trouble. It was only the sudden appearance of Stephan Strange that pulled it all together; ‘with magic’ (Tony explained that part with an eye roll and wiggly fingers). Clint sustained a couple burns, a few broken bones and woke up an hour earlier. Steve got the same plus some, but the serum had already worked overtime to heal him of most of it.  </p>
<p>When Tony was done recounting their heroic rescue, one he made sure to let Steve know was 80 percent due to his own daring and intellect, 18 percent due to the others and, begrudgingly, 2 percent to magic, he hovered, hands restless as they rearranged the items on Steve’s bedside table.</p>
<p>Tony’s eyes remained knitted in concern as they swept over Steve’s bandage covered body. He began to ramble again, bouncing on his toes as if the energy in his body was attempting to escape in any way possible, “You know, though I like getting to be the hero I think I’d prefer if you didn’t make yourself the damsel in distress in those scenarios because, you know, my ticker,” he tapped a hand over his chest, “is still fragile sometimes and the added stress of knowing an entire nation will hate you if you don’t manage to rescue their golden child is probably too much for it.” Tony began tugging at Steve’s blankets, pulling them up to further cover his body as he muttered, mostly under his breath, “also, maybe I’d really miss you so…”  </p>
<p>Steve smiled wide up at Tony as he reached out to still his hand. He squeezed it gently before twinning their fingers together, “We should go out soon. Right when I get out of her, I want to take you on a date.”</p>
<p>Tony went still, a single brow raised as he assessed Steve. It was only the slight twitch of his upper lip that threw off the façade that he was trying to get the rest of his face to go along with, “why Steven, I thought you’d never ask.” Then he was really smiling, eyes bright and grin toothy as it stretched across his face, “I just lost my Jag to Rhodey by the way. He said, and I quote, ‘leave it up to you two morons to get together while the other lies in a hospital bed.’, I had more faith in us, Steve! I really did, but here you go, lying in a hospital bed. Really, it’s your fault, I—”</p>
<p>Steve cut him off with a laughed as he tugged Tony’s hand until the other man was sitting next to him on the bed, tucked warm and solid against his side, “remind me to explain it to him, later.”</p>
<p>He was done waiting.</p>
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